Where did the rain go...?
Realistically, heavy rain clouds still hovered over Le Castellet and its surrounding communities, villages, and cities, with real-time forecasts anticipating nothing less than continuous downpour.
But figuratively, from Luca's perspective, the rain had vanished.
The clouds were still dark, the wind chill and breezy, yet it seemed to Luca that Dani Walding was struggling with nothing. The marshals at the side of the track, wearing raincoats, held umbrellas over their heads, shielding themselves from nothing.
"Wonderful," Luca exclaimed as he realized what was truly going on with Rainborne in Slipsense & Rainborne.
Squinting closely, he could finally make out the highlights of droplets tearing past, especially the ones trickling down his visor. This was only visible when he squinted.
The raindrops were distorted, spread out, merging with the atmosphere—or at least that's how it seemed to Luca.
This distortion granted him an unobstructed view of the track, clearing it in such a way that even the pools of water no longer hindered his system's effective track calculations.
At 50, Slipsense & Rainborne was awesome! Look at this!
As for Slipsense, he hadn't witnessed or felt the gradual change like he had with Rainborne.
However, now, Luca's tire grip had never felt better! Even Mr. Ruben and his crew were delighted with the impressive green indicators that had just begun to light up on Luca's data display.
[You have 4 min. 20 sec left for Sync Buff]
Luca composed himself and focused on the race he had to win. No more ogling at the wonderful distorted raindrops or marveling at the excellent downforce he could feel.
All Attributes at 50.
Slipsense & Rainborne, Spatial Awareness, Side-by-Side King all at 50.
Reflexes, Overtaking Skill, Track Awareness, all at 20+
How could Luca not win the French Grand Prix?!
Dani Walding had created an extra two-second advantage while Luca was busy marveling at how efficient his rear tires were under the wet conditions. His car didn't even look like he was running on Sync Buff yet.
Realizing they were approaching the halfway mark of the 49th lap, Luca gripped his wheel tighter, his heightened senses pulsing through his veins. His tongue flicked across his lips, his expression sharpened with determination.
**You are maxing your speed, Luca** Mr. Ruben warned. **We have water everywhere…**
[You are moving at 300 km/h]
Luca's tires speared through the water as he pursued Walding, his eyes locked on the TRANSPARENT spray kicked up by his rival's rear wheels in the distance.
He clawed at every slick portion of the track, as if sinking into wet sand. Testing his limits, Luca deliberately took lanes with potential aquaplaning risks.
"Marvelous!" Luca exclaimed joyfully, unaware that he was giving his team engineers high blood pressure.
The pools of water that had sent some drivers skidding in today's race—and had almost ended his own—were no longer his enemy. They had become part of his arsenal, a surface Luca could glide over while others faltered.
His car felt lighter, nimbler, as if this were an ordinary day at Bergwaldring Circuit.
By maxing out his speed, combined with high Attributes and skill points, he had a 99% assurance of safe driving in unsafe conditions. The gap between him and Walding closed rapidly as he approached Walding's gearbox before Turn 6 and the Drop.
**Keep it clean, Luca!**
Partially aware of Luca's approach, Walding braked early, cautious of the slick patch ahead. Luca didn't hesitate. The distortion made the water nearly invisible, and his Slipsense gripped the tires through the apex like they were on dry asphalt.
Luca shot past, his Dallara cutting inside Walding's car with millimeters to spare.
The crowd erupted as Luca emerged ahead.
"...Luca Rennick in P8!"
The commentary didn't go wild as Luca overtook Dani Walding. The focus was on a much fiercer battle at the front of the pack, and to the audience, it seemed like Luca had simply executed a routine overtake.
But for those monitoring his telemetry, it was a different story entirely.
Mr. Ruben was in shock, his gaze locked on the live feed as he watched Luca finish the 49th lap at a blistering pace, even rounding the treacherous Turn 11 as if it were just another corner.
He glanced at the telemetry display again, almost doubting its accuracy. The numbers were surreal, almost too good to be true. That was when he caught the smirk on Mr. Moritz's face.
"Is... is this what you meant?"
"I'm telling you," Moritz replied, his tone laced with certainty.
Mr. Ruben nodded in astonishment, his hands finding their way to his hips. The data didn't lie—Luca was on a completely different level now.
Quickly, he leaned into the radio, the clatter audible to Luca on the other end. **Alright, Luca. Vlad Volyinski in P7, Benjamin Taubert in P6, Derstappen in P5, Oliver Kristensen in P4, Bellingham in P3, Addams in P2, Aaronson in P1**
"Okay. Thanks a lot, sir," Luca replied calmly.
[Analyzing Dallara (F2 04) and host's distance from 8th Position]
[You are 2 seconds away, host.]
Whenever drivers zipped past the grid into the next lap, it was a moment that always turned heads. The sound of engines roaring against the rain, the blurred streaks of cars slicing through the spray—it was impossible to ignore.
So, for Volyinski to barrel down the straight at a speed well-suited for the treacherous wet track was no surprise. But Luca, following close behind like a shadow born of chaos, was something else entirely.
"...LUCA RENNICK MIGHT BE RACING TO HIS OWN DOWNFALL HERE! LOOK AT THAT MOMENTUM! FULL SPEED!"
"... he's on a mission to get back into the competition! He is not racing, Steve! Rennick has done this before! HE'S HUNTING!"
Luca's fingers tightened around the wheel, his knuckles white as he shifted into a higher gear. His HUD flashed a warning of ERS overuse, and even his engineers noticed, but Luca ignored it.
Mr. Ruben grew worried.
He'd watched the Spanish Grand Prix and the Hungarian Grand Prix where Luca started driving out of the blue, but he had a bad feeling about this one. Especially since it was on a track .
**You should ease off, Luca. P7 is WAY better than a DNF**
"I understand sir," Luca replied, still doing his best not to keep his team in the dark while he raced on his own purpose. "I can manage the spike."
Luca's mind churned as he shrunk the gap to Volyinski.
He wondered what would happen if Mr. Ruben ordered him to stop driving at a high speed, and if he heard Mr. Grant's and Ms. Vallotton's voices on the radio, giving the same order.
Would he have to obey his team or... defile them and continue on his plans?
Suddenly, a wave of deep reflection hit Luca, and he began to ponder on Ansel again and his stance against his decision in Riyadh.
[You are 0.5 seconds away]
Volyinski's team did their best to warn him upon Luca's approach. But the driver was busy battling with Benjamin Taubert. They were both in the same sector, but Benjamin was ahead.
Imagine using DRS with Sync Buff.
Volyinski was unable to deny Luca of P7 and Luca's name moved up the leaderboard.
[Analyzing Dallara (F2 04) and host's distance from 7th Position]
[You are 1 seconds away, host.]
Luca didn't even register his system's announcement of P7.
His eyes were locked on Taubert's car at the bottom of the Drop while he just reached the top.
Taubert attacked the next curves and Luca zipped downwards.
Just like the last lap with Sync Buff, there was no:
[System detects loss of speed control.]
However there was still:
[Host is involuntarily moving at 310 km/h.]
And just like that, Luca blasted out of the Drop with such blistering momentum that he roared past Taubert, leaving no doubt about his intent.
The sheer speed at which he exited made it seem as though he'd transcended what a SomberCore could manage.
To the human eye—at least to those watching from the stands—Luca seemed to physically skip Turn 7 entirely, overshooting it with a ferocity that carried him straight into Turn 8, the wet track barely containing his charge.
"...OH MY WORD! RENNICK HAS JUST LAUNCHED OUT OF THE DROP LIKE A ROCKET! HE'S PAST TAUBERT AND—WAIT—DID HE JUST MISS TURN 7?!"
"...HE DIDN'T MISS IT—HE OVERSHOT IT! THE SPEED HE'S CARRYING IS ABSOLUTELY UNREAL! TO THE NAKED EYE, IT LOOKS LIKE HE TELEPORTED STRAIGHT TO TURN 8!"
"...Luca Rennick in P7!"
"...Luca Rennick is now flying in this French Grand Prix! From P20 to P6! Luca Rennick is now behind one of his rivals! ALBERT DERSTAPPEN HOLDS P5!"
Mr. Ruben had no choice but to follow up. After all, in every race where Luca had unleashed this magical burst, he had never lost control into the barricades.
**Alright, mate. Good driving, excellent driving, in fact. We think Derstappen will be easy at the rate you're moving. He's driving like he needs to box. Same for Kristensen** Mr. Ruben paused as his eyes flicked to the live feed, catching sight of Oliver Kristensen steering his violet Dallara into the pitlane under the relentless downpour. **Oh—Kristensen's pitting already. Much better!**
"Foolishness," Luca muttered with a grin, recalling Kristensen's earlier desperate attempts to cling to the top three.
Now, Kristensen was pitting from P4, and with both Derstappen and Luca charging ahead, he would drop to P6.
"...It's rare to see a pit stop with just four laps to go in this F2 French Grand Prix! The final Grand Prix of the season! Velocità's Max Addams holds P2, Squadra's Bellingham holds P3—it's a fierce battle up there. But Trampos' Rennick now climbs into the top five after Kristensen's pit… LUCA RENNICK HAS CLIMBED TO P5!"
"...Luca Rennick in P5!"
Sometimes, inheriting a position felt just as satisfying as earning it—especially when it came from the top spots.
Luca allowed himself a brief glance at Kristensen's Dallara parked in Retona's box. The sight was satisfying, but it lasted only a moment before his focus snapped back to the track ahead.
[Slipsense & Rainborne +1]
[Sync Bar is currently being used]
Wow, so I got a point for Slipsense & Rainborne too? Nice.
[You have 1min. 49 sec left for Sync Buff]
Luca's objective was P1, not P5. Troubling Mr. Lugo and his team was just a bonus, what he truly needed now was to anger them the more by taking victory this afternoon.
Luca saw his opening! Derstappen, visibly fatigued after an hour of racing under the rain, couldn't do anything. It was like a peaceful, inevitable transition of power and Luca gave him an honorable glance over before fully taking P4.
**YEESSSSS!!!!!** All Trampos engineers erupted in celebration, jumping to their feet with headsets and wires bouncing as they cheered Luca on.
To them, they believed that overtake was difficult!
"...WONDERFUL! WONDERFUL! WONDERFUL UNDER THE RAIN! WONDERFUL IN THIS FRENCH GRAND PRIX! LUCA RENNICK TAKES P4! LUCA RENNICK IN P4!"
"...Luca Rennick in P4, Albert Derstappen in P5!"
"DAMNNNNNIT! Damn it!" Miles cursed as Luca's red-and-black Dallara glimmered menacingly in his mirrors. "THIS FUCKING PEST!"